If I remember correctly from some translated articles, one of the concerns brought up with Haenel’s entrant was regarding their “90% domestic” capability. It was alleged that Haenel’s T&E entrants were not up to that 90% and possibly/probably largely Caracal made. According to this allegation, the only way Haenel could meet the 90% for contract rifles was to use the contract as capital to build the necessary infrastructure in Germany. AKA (allegedly) the company as it existed at the time of contract award was physically incapable of meeting the domestic production requirements as their tinder was a “if you buy the rifles, we’ll build the factory” sort of thing. I’m not in industry, but that sounds hinky to my uncultured ears.
None of the above has anything to do with the qualitative merits of the rifles or validity of the patent claims. I have no info on either.